The present disclosure relates to a medical connector and more specifically, to a medical connector that allows for more surely preventing unintended disengagement of the connector while securing ease of a connecting operation to another medical connector.
In the related art, a medical connector is used to connect a flow path in an infusion set adapted to inject medical solution into a patient, other medical instruments, and the like. Such a medical connector is normally connected by inserting a male connector portion provided in one connector into a female connector portion provided in the other connector. Additionally, it is common to provide an engagement portion between the connectors in order to prevent unintended disengagement of the connectors. For example, in a Luer-lock connector, a screw is used as an engagement portion, and a two-step connecting operation including inserting a male connector portion into a female connector portion and fastening the same with the screw is required at the time of connection, in which the connecting operation is complicated. Also, when the screw is loosened due to action of external force, there may be a possibility that a connector is unintentionally disengaged.
To solve such a problem, for example, there is a known technique in which a plurality of claws are used as an engagement portion as disclosed in JP 2004-483 A and WO 2012/128321 A1. A medical connector disclosed in JP 2004-483 A and WO 2012/128321 A1 includes a male connector portion and the plurality of claws, and when the male connector portion is inserted into a female connector portion of the other medical connector, the plurality of claws passes over a stepped portion formed in the other medical connector while being elastically deformed, and detachment from the stepped portion is prevented by the claws being restored from the elastic deformation. With this structure, because the connectors can be connected to each other only by inserting the male connector portion into the female connector portion, the connecting operation can be easily performed. Further, because the screw is used as the engagement portion, unintended disengagement of the connectors caused by a loosened screw is prevented.